


Adjusting

by tangerinesandbeans



Series: Emotional Support Superhero Dads [2]
Category: Renegades - Marissa Meyer
Genre: Descriptions of Blood, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I’m back on my bullshit, M/M, Panic Attacks, Same AU as before, Violence but nothing graphic, supernova spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-12
Updated: 2019-11-12
Packaged: 2021-01-29 09:31:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21407998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tangerinesandbeans/pseuds/tangerinesandbeans
Summary: !!!! Supernova Spoilers !!!!Same au as last time, but better written (I hope)
Relationships: Hugh Everhart | Captain Chromium/Simon Westwood | The Dread Warden, Nova/Adrian (mentioned)
Series: Emotional Support Superhero Dads [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1543294
Comments: 7
Kudos: 32





	Adjusting

**Author's Note:**

> Yes I know I just posted Hugh/Simon a few days ago but someone’s gotta write it and if the gods have chosen me then who m I to object

Hugh was still getting used to pain. He had never known the sensation of bumping into a table or scraping an arm, but he was learning it. A bruise here, a scratch there. It wasn’t the worst thing in the world- Captain Chromium had certainly been through worse- but it was still pretty annoying. Hugh was always covered in small bruises and cuts now. Nobody would have expected Hugh Everhart, leader of the Renegade Council, to be clumsy. Maybe he had always been accident-prone, but he just hadn’t noticed. The pain itself wasn’t an issue- the bruises made Simon worried for him, though. 

There had been some… bigger incidents as well. The first time Hugh stubbed his toe, he nearly fucking cried. It hadn’t been that bad, there wasn’t even any blood, but Hugh felt like he could barely walk. He had also cut his fingers _ a lot _. Hugh was prone to overestimate the distance between his hand and the knife he was using. Suffice to say, he had ruined dinner multiple times.

Hugh had gone a whole week without any major injuries. He was cutting onions for that evening, a little too haphazardly. Yes, he should have been more careful, but can you blame him? It had been getting easier and easier to deal with minor inconveniences, and he was proud of himself. Maybe he shouldn’t have been singing (and dancing) along to the music drifting through the house. 

As he sliced, the blade slipped from his onion covered hands. It caught his leg, continuing to fall down… until it planted itself right in Hugh’s foot. Hugh let out a scream.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” he cursed under his breath. Hugh could hear Simon’s quick footsteps running towards him. Simon appeared from the stairwell to see Hugh crouched down, gripping his foot that was releasing blood at an alarming rate.

“_ Shit _, Hugh.” 

Simon rushed to grab the first aid kit that was in their kitchen at all times. Hugh stayed huddled over, trying not to think about the blood that was gushing from his foot. He tried to stand up to help Simon, but that only made the pain worse.

“Here let me- _ oh fucking fuck that hurts _,” Hugh collapsed back into a sitting position. Simon sat down next to him, with the kit prepared. 

“Okay, you can do this. I’m going to take the knife out now.”

Hugh braced himself. The burning sensation only increased when he felt the knife slide out of his foot. Hugh let out a string of curses, and it took all of his willpower not to look at the spot where the knife had been. Of course, he looked. Hugh instantly regretted it. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes. The image of even more blood spilling _ out of him _ was seared into his mind. He was pulled out of the painful haze by Simon’s voice. 

“You’re doing great, honey. I’m going to wash the wound now.”

Hugh heard Simon stand up, and then running water. He felt Simon next to him, and then a cloth dabbing at the wound. It didn’t feel great, but it wasn’t as bad as the knife being removed. After a few minutes, the wound stung again from what Hugh assumed to be antiseptic. He felt Simon’s hand grab his own, and he gripped it tightly. He felt a reassuring squeeze in return. 

“I think I’m going to have to give you stitches,” Simon said to him. Hugh nodded.

“Thank god we took those first aid classes,” Hugh joked. Simon chuckled weakly, and squeezed his hand again.

“Are you ready for the stitches?” Simon asked. Hugh nodded. He felt the needle pull through his skin. One stitch at a time, Simon sewed him up, and applied a large bandage to the wound. Hugh finally opened his eyes. 

“Thank you,” he leaned over to kiss Simon’s cheek. Simon pressed their foreheads together. They sat there for a few minutes, until Hugh’s back started to cramp. Simon helped him up, and they hobbled up the stairs together, depositing Hugh on the bed. He figured that Simon returned to the kitchen to clean up the mess, but he passed out so fast, he couldn’t be sure. They didn’t have a family dinner that night. 

Hugh didn’t leave the house for the next few days. Anywhere he had to go, Simon or Adrian helped him. Hugh would often be found on the couch, either reading some trashy tabloid with a hilarious claim about his and Simon’s failing marriage, or watching shitty Hallmark Christmas movies (what could he say, he had a weak spot for bad troupes). Max offered to heal his wound, but Hugh refused. Max obviously felt horrible about stealing his powers, and he figured that healing Hugh would only make Max feel worse. Besides, Hugh joked, he needed to learn his lesson on being more careful when cooking. Simon took over the duty of preparing meals for a while, attempting to steer Hugh away from anything that could hurt him again. 

This worked for about three and a half days, until Hugh insisted on going to work. He just barely made it to Renegades HQ, before nearly collapsing and thoroughly terrifying the poor man at the front desk. 

Needless to say, Simon was not thrilled to receive a call from Kasumi, informing him that his dumbass husband nearly passed out before he even made it to the Council meeting. Hugh was forced to return to the couch once more, but Adrian, Simon and Max would normally join him in the evenings for the worst rom coms they could find. Bad movie had officially become a thing in the Everhart-Westwood household, and Hugh certainly wasn’t complaining (this tradition stuck longer after Hugh’s foot healed- Adrian even brought Nova once).

Hugh’s foot healed over a few weeks. Taking the stitches out was not ideal, but absolutely nothing compared to the actual knife wound. Hugh had taken to calling it his stab wound, and very much enjoyed telling all of Adrian’s and Max’s friends the story of his “stab wound”, much to their exasperation. Oscar found the story particularly hilarious. 

The scar healed well, but if you looked closely, you could see the faint shimmer line that seemed to divide Hugh’s foot. Hugh didn’t mind the scar at all, and declared as evidence of his badass “stab wound”. After the incident, Hugh was much more careful with knives.

* * *

Simon was also struggling with the no-powers issue. He missed being able to go invisible whenever the need arose. Even though he hadn’t turned invisible without warning in years- and was very good at controlling his power- he constantly felt like everyone’s eyes were on him. Every time he tripped or stumbled, he desperately missed being invisible. Not being able to control his powers meant made him feel like an anxious 11 year old again, wanting to disappear at the slightest embarrassment. There were times that he tried to go invisible, in vain. He would forget, for a split second, that he was no longer a prodigy, and panic would quickly set in. Hugh had to calm him down more than once. Of course, his husband was wonderful at keeping everyone calm, even Simon. One would think that after being married for so long, the voice Hugh used to calm Simon would have lost its effect. It had not. Hugh was just as empathetic and perfect as they first day they met, or maybe even more so. Either way, Simon was getting off-topic. 

Today was no exception. He had been at the grocery store, and come quite close to knocking a full display of sparkling water cans everywhere. It had been a near miss of Simon’s cart, and he had clipped a few cans. As he picked up the few cans that had fallen, Simon felt his face burn. He willed with all of his might to disappear, but he remained visible to everyone in the store. He could feel everyone’s eyes on him, and his breathing began to increase rapidly. Hugh, sensing an attack, gently lead Simon away from the sparkling water. Simon was on edge until they left the store. Hugh managed to get them out quickly, but Simon was still close to hyperventilating. As they sat in the car, Simon rested his head against the dashboard. He was still breathing much too fast. 

“Hey, Si, it’s okay. It’s just us. No one can see you.” Simon measured out his breathing, and focused on Hugh’s voice. He could feel himself calming down, slowly but surely. He leaned over and buried his face in Hugh’s neck. Hugh was comforting, and he ran his hands through Simon’s hair. They managed to make it back to the mansion without too much emotional trauma. Simon felt terrible about the grocery store for the rest of the day. After dinner, Simon attempted to barricade himself in their room. It might have worked, if Hugh wasn’t such a caring and compassionate husband. Damn, Simon loved him. 

“You okay? You’ve been out of it since the sparkling water,” Hugh said. Simon sighed and rolled over in bed.

“I feel bad that you have to keep calming me down. I should be over this by now, I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

Hugh sat down on the bed next to Simon, with an intense look in his eyes. 

“You shouldn’t feel bad about being human. It’s tough to adjust to an entirely new way of living,” Hugh insisted. “It’s been hard for me too.” He gestured towards his bandaged foot. Simon sighed and rolled over so he wasn’t facing Hugh. 

“We’re gonna have bad movie night. Are you coming, Si?” 

Simon buries his face in the pillow. He felt Hugh kiss the top of his head, and heard him walk away. Simon felt worse than before. He was acting like a moody teenager, and now Hugh was upset with him. He tried to make himself get out of bed. It took what felt like an eternity (it was only 45 minutes), but Simon managed to make it to the living room, where Hugh was asleep in front of the tv. Max and Adrian were sitting with him. Adrian saw Simon, and the look on his face changed from peaceful contentment to concern. Hugh must have told Adrian about his attack. Simon came over to sit on the couch with his family. Max poked Hugh the face until he woke with a start, nearly falling off the couch. Max giggled, and Hugh made room for Simon to sit next to him. 

“Hey,” Simon said. Hugh smiled softly at him (Simon swore that Hugh’s smiles were made of pure, golden sunshine). 

“Hey, Si.” They kept watching the Hallmark movie they had started. They picked up at the part when the country guy chases after the businesswoman. After they finished the movie, Max and Adrian were asleep on the couch, and Hugh was drowsy. 

“Let’s head to bed. This couch isn’t doing your back any favors.” Hugh groaned when Simon pulled him off the couch. They collapsed on the bed together, exhausted. Simon turned to look at Hugh.

“Look, I’m sorry for taking my anger at myself out on you. You were only trying to make me feel better,” Simon apologized. Hugh was silent for a moment. Then he let out a loud, fake snore. Simon laughed.

“You dick!” 

Hugh continued to pretend to sleep, until Simon tickled him.

“No, Si- I surrender! Please have mercy!” Hugh said between wheezes. Simon finally relented. Hugh grew quiet again. Simon looked over, expecting the sly smile Hugh had when he was playing a prank, but instead he found a much softer one. 

“Thank you, by the way, for fixing my stab wound,” Hugh whispered. “I know we’ve dealt with way worse, but when that knife was in me, all logical thought went out the window. I don’t know why I couldn’t handle it.” 

“Honey, you literally used to have a layer of metal in your body. Pain is a lot shittier without it. Don’t beat yourself up for not being able to handle a knife sticking out of your foot.”

Hugh looked like he wanted to say more, but kept his mouth closed. When he said nothing for a few minutes, Simon looked over to see Hugh’s sleeping face, angelic in every sense of the word.

“Goodnight, Hugh.”

Simon heard a mumble that sounded a lot like “G’night, Si.” He pressed one last kiss to Hugh’s temple before drifting off to sleep. 

**Author's Note:**

> *frantically google stab wounds on WebMD*
> 
> It’s pretty likely that the panic attack and the knife injury are both really inaccurate, lmao I did not do more than five minutes of research


End file.
